I cracked open a bottle of wine with Hubs and then skyped my parents who live on the other side of the world.

Yeah I'm used to it, and you're right that a lot of them do rock their names. (Filbert is the Filbertiest Filbert to ever Filbert and I love him for it haha.)

I wish I could pack my lunch! The English academy* I work at is run by petty cheapskates, so I either eat the swill they have catered for the kids (which I'm pretty sure is less than hygienic to begin with — I've found hairs in the food multiple times, and once a couple of kids ended up with food poisoning) or I have…

Ratchet is a five-year-old boy, so no, lol. He has no idea where his name came from though, so maybe his mom has a sick sense of humor.

I work at an English kindergarten/academy in Korea, and I can always tell what names are gaining popularity back home by the names my new students get. "Okay, three new Emily's, eight versions of Sophia (Sophie, Sofia, etc), several Olivia's... Looks like I can't name my child ANY OF THESE." It's been pretty accurate…

Not me or my parents, but my grandparents met and got married (first marriage for both) when they were in their 40s, in an era when everyone they knew (including their 9 brothers and sisters on each side — big family) got married in their 20s. They proceeded to have three lovely children who all went on to lead happy…

Only slightly related, but I've always been so grateful that my birthday is in June. I get presents every six months! I do, however, still have to share the day, since I somehow managed to be born on my mother's birthday. It's great now that I'm older, because starting in high school we always just did mother-daughter…

Are you my ex-coworker? Because that's exactly what my current workplace is like. I'm getting ready to leave and I CAN'T FUCKING WAIT.

Our situation was similar, except that we'd been dating for a couple of months and my visa was expiring, so we just got married instead of having to deal with the hassle of waiting and getting a new visa and whatnot. Only been a year and a half for us, but still going strong! :)

Um..I did! And it was an international marriage too. ;) But we're unusual.

Wow. That is incredibly daunting.

Except, y'know, Koreans generally sleep on the floor, and every Korean I've ever met has declared that sleeping on one's back is the proper way to sleep. Most people have a flat-ish head, and there's no stigma other than it being slightly less attractive than a nice round head.

Mine was like:

When I was fifteen my brother and I finally managed to convince my mother that we hated turkey and that we'd be much happier with anything other than that damn bird. Since then we usually ate either ham, cornish game hens (Individual birds! Extra seasonings for Dad, bland as can be for little bro.), or steak. One year…

Suuuuuuuuuuuuper late to the party (both now and back then), but my first phone was in the summer of 2005. I was a senior in high school, had just gotten a car, and had finally convinced my parents that a cellphone was a good idea. It was this clunky, silver folding phone, prepaid. I was just so happy to have a phone…

1. Don't fraternize with the enemy (other teachers).

I think I ordered this from a school catalogue one year, but I can't really remember what happened, other than that I liked it and was upset that my mom wouldn't order the next book in the series for me. Do tell me what happens!

Oooooo, another one I loved as a child! My copy went mysteriously missing several years ago, I suspect the victim of the downsizing my parents did while I was in college, although they swear up and down they didn't touch anything in my room.

Horse-craziness directed a lot of my reading as a child too, so I understand. King of the Wind and The Black Stallion are two of the only ones I kept after The Great Downsizing after college.

I'm right there with you. I read the whole damn series.